Timothée Chalamet’s latest feature film, Marty Supreme, garnered plenty of media attention for its incredibly extravagant press tour, marked by bright orange blimps polluting the Los Angeles skyline and a vibrantly ostentatious verse on EsDeeKid’s remix of “4 Raws”.
Chalamet’s press tour, though exorbitant, is part of a new wave of marketing that has gripped the film industry’s zeitgeist. Emerald Fennel’s latest film, Wuthering Heights, leveraged the musical talents of Charli XCX’s “Everything is romantic” remix featuring Caroline Polachek by promoting a TikTok trend built around an unofficial soundbite.
Both movies attempted to combine comical levels of advertising with the artistry of filmmaking — two things that shouldn’t really mix. Both had more than 130 brand collaborations with products ranging from ping-pong ball ornaments to branded açai bowls, turning the focus away from the movie and directing it toward raking in cash. Rather than allowing the narrative of the movie to drive commercial success, the commodification of audience identity is the driving force, measuring success on brand rather than cultural relevance. The film has become the least important part of its marketing.
This new push towards advertising through merchandise has taken away from the heart of movies: sharing stories through the art of film. Bloated movie budgets and pressure to succeed on streaming platforms have compounded marketing teams’ concerns about extracting every last dollar. Without any focus on establishing a connection with moviegoers, audiences are reduced to mindless consumption instead of a community of people who immerse themselves in the world of film.
There is no denying that advertising has always been central to the success of films. In the notable marketing campaign pioneered by 42 Entertainment, The Dark Knight centered fan interactions, allowing the movie to solidify itself without selling its identity to the highest bidder. The campaign revolved around a scavenger hunt that engaged 11 million fans across the globe to dive into their own version of Gotham City. Fans completed a variety of tasks, such as using coordinates to find cellphones baked into birthday cakes. It allowed audiences to interact with the world the film inhabited. What was initially perceived as a mindless superhero film solidified itself as a cultural touchstone in cinema because the founding principle of the marketing campaign was the story itself. The fact that Christopher Nolan directed it was simply the cherry on top.
The Dark Knight integrated audience identity and successful branding – a balance that the advertising of today is missing. Marketing campaigns now place emphasis on commodifying stories and their audiences, bastardizing the relationship between film and the people it is meant to reach. Wuthering Heights becomes a “dark romance”, Wicked becomes defined by its water bottles, and Marty Supreme becomes a poster child for a poorly written rap verse.
When art becomes diluted to a brand collaboration rather than serving as commentary on our understanding of the space we occupy in the world, its cultural value shrinks. It begs the question of whether filmmaking in its current form, especially for the masses, should even be categorized as art. Producers and their marketing teams should be held accountable for the predatory role they play, exploiting the human psyche for a quick buck. The onus also falls on the individual to consume more consciously, and to be critical of the bizarre lengths production companies will go to make a profit from their identities.
These stories should transcend generations, just as the tragic tale of Heathcliff and Catherine continues to be a story worth telling and protecting. Because when all is said and done, Heathcliff and Catherine are much more than a branded eye mask.
Feature Image Source: Merjan Khwajazada